My Name is Darla. This is what I am currently doing.

Silver Forks Lined in a Row

A few weeks ago, I purchased a second-hand Rokinon 14mm F2.8 lens. It is a beautiful lens with clear, sharp images.

Today, I decided to try it out on a project that I'm working on for Don Giannatti's Project P52. Each week, Don gives us an assignment to shoot. This week, the assignment was "forks" and "change."

I found several sets of vintage silver forks in the cellar a few months ago. My mother had bought a big box of silver flatware at an auction sale years ago. With props in hand, I started to sketch out ideas for "change." In the middle of ideas popping and sketching, I decided an interesting "change" would be a switch from my go-to Tokina 100mm lens to the Roninon 14mm lens. I think it made for some interesting shots.

SPOTLIGHT VERSION 1All the forks are lined up on a black-top table. I experimented with small and large aperture settings. I liked the f18 setting and manually blurred the foreground with lens blur in Photoshop. With a few more enhancements in Photoshop, I added a layer of NikEffects bleach

SPOTLIGHT VERSION 2Same process but opened a larger spot light over the focal point.

SPOTLIGHT VERSION 3All the photographs were with natural light and long exposures.Photoshop enhancement, NikEffects film effect and finally, layering a spot of light over the fork.

LINEUP ROW 1My first test shots. I laid out the forks, but didn't polish or fix them. As much as I like the rustic and worn look of the forks, I eventually polished them and fixed the tines.Photoshop darkening the edges and contrast adjustment, then NikEffects vintage filter.